Skip to main content

The Bloomberg, Weicker, D’Amore Industrial/Political Complex

The Greenwich Times is reporting that former senator and governor Lowell Weicker would enthusiastically support the presidential bid of New York Mayor and fellow multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

"I think he is head and shoulders the best candidate to be president of the United States. I think he'll find lots of support wherever,” Weicker said.

There is a problem though: Over at The Politico, Roger Simon is reporting that Bloomberg has given the kibosh to third party enthusiasts such as Weicker, whose former chief aide and Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Tom D’Amore may possibly be angling for a new political prospect after his latest venture, propelling Greenwich senatorial hopeful into current Sen. Joe Lieberman’s seat, proved disappointing.

“Asked if there were any circumstances under which he would run,” Simon reported, "Bloomberg replied: ‘If everyone in the world was dead and I was the only one alive, sure.’”

That’s a “No.”

However, in politics “No’” not infrequently metamorphoses into “Maybe” and then into “Yes,” provided the naysayer has sufficient funds on hand to prevent him from entering the poorhouse at the conclusion of the campaign.

Weicker, the Greenwich Times reported, “said he spoke to Bloomberg about a month ago and urged him to run but doesn't expect the former longtime Democrat to make an announcement until early next year when the field of candidates is winnowed.

"'I think that his track record is just outstanding,' Weicker said. 'I think he has the resources if he wants to run for president.'"

Greenwichers such as Weicker and Lamont call the money they dispose of for political purposes “resources.” And, for sure, Bloomberg has billions of resources. Lamont had lot’s of resources to dump into his failed campaign; so, too, with Bloomberg. Apparently, the campaign reform legislation that has been so effective in decoupling campaign spending from political parties does not prevent billionaires from purchasing elections.

Bloomberg’s seeming unambiguous “No” has led some political handicappers to suppose that Weicker’s enthusiasm is but a prelude to D’Amore’s involvement in a future Bloomberg presidential campaign. Certainly Bloomberg has resources enough to hire D’Amore’s as a political consultant. D’Amore’s firm, Doyle, D'Amore and Balducci did wonders for Lamont, and D'Amore's attachment to parties is as ephemeral as Bloomberg's.

“D'Amore said the Lamont campaign pays his firm ‘seven or eight thousand dollars a month’ to consult on ‘strategic planning and communications strategy,” Paul Bass reported during Lamont’s failed campaign. “He (D’Amore) said he did re-register for one day as a Republican, in 2000, to vote for John McCain in that year's presidential primary. He then immediately returned his registration to independent.”

Bloomberg, who changed his party registration from Democrat to Republican to run for the mayoralty of New York, now has switched from Republican to Independent. This switcheroo has set off a firestorm of supposition.

Bloomberg has become an independent, Simon observes archly, “because it is the easiest way for him to become president of the United States.

“In politics, this is what we call principle.”

In politics, if you have lots of money, principle is no bar to election.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Powell, the JI, And Economic literacy

Powell, Pesci Substack The Journal Inquirer (JI), one of the last independent newspapers in Connecticut, is now a part of the Hearst Media chain. Hearst has been growing by leaps and bounds in the state during the last decade. At the same time, many newspapers in Connecticut have shrunk in size, the result, some people seem to think, of ad revenue smaller newspapers have lost to internet sites and a declining newspaper reading public. Surviving papers are now seeking to recover the lost revenue by erecting “pay walls.” Like most besieged businesses, newspapers also are attempting to recoup lost revenue through staff reductions, reductions in the size of the product – both candy bars and newspapers are much smaller than they had been in the past – and sell-offs to larger chains that operate according to the social Darwinian principles of monopolistic “red in tooth and claw” giant corporations. The first principle of the successful mega-firm is: Buy out your predator before he swallows

Down The Rabbit Hole, A Book Review

Down the Rabbit Hole How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime by Brent McCall & Michael Liebowitz Available at Amazon Price: $12.95/softcover, 337 pages   “ Down the Rabbit Hole: How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime ,” a penological eye-opener, is written by two Connecticut prisoners, Brent McCall and Michael Liebowitz. Their book is an analytical work, not merely a page-turner prison drama, and it provides serious answers to the question: Why is reoffending a more likely outcome than rehabilitation in the wake of a prison sentence? The multiple answers to this central question are not at all obvious. Before picking up the book, the reader would be well advised to shed his preconceptions and also slough off the highly misleading claims of prison officials concerning the efficacy of programs developed by dusty old experts who have never had an honest discussion with a real convict. Some of the experts are more convincing cons than the cons, p